TIMING TREATMENT OF ACUT~ LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKAEMIA ... A Shorter Course is Enough for an .U npredictable Minority of Patients Three years has been commonly used as a period of treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. However, in 82 patients it was found that in some cases a short period.of treatment was as effective as a longer period. In this Medical Research Council study 39 patients receive~ six 12-week courses of chemotherapy, and 43 continued with a further 6 courses. Each course ·included treatment with prednisolone, vincristine, mercaptopurine, a~d methotrexate. Twenty-eight (65 %) of the 43 who completed the 12 courses continued in unbroken remission. 5~6 years after treatment started, compared with 19 (49 %) ofthe'39 who had 6 courses. Ignoring CNS relapses, in bone marrow alone the relapse rates were 6/43 compared with 15/39, which seemed to indicate that the extra courses were of benefit to only certain patients. However, these could not be identified beforehand. The study showed that 19 months' treatment was generally too short and also that a longer period was more important for boys than for girlS. Medical Research Council: British Medical Journal 2: 495 (20 Aug 1977)

INPHARMA 10th September, 1977 p12